Madam Speaker, I rise today to support the group of motions put forward by the member for Prince George—Peace River. They make a valuable contribution to the bill and I urge all parties to support the motions.
The New Democratic Party believes that Bill C-26 is basically a good piece of legislation. It follows years of consultation but some improvements are needed. The motions moved by the member for Prince George—Peace River contain some of them as do the motions moved by the member for Brandon—Souris.
Special crops are of growing importance in western Canada. According to many, Canada is the world's leading exporter of lentils and peas. They are important economic products for western Canada and for Canada as a whole.
We would support any measures that would improve the ability of farmers to prosper from growing and marketing these special crops. We also support measures that would put the entire special crops industry on a firmer financial footing. That is primarily why we are in favour of Bill C-26.
When we come to the motions moved by the member for Prince George—Peace River we see the member recommends that the minister appoint a special crops board rather than a mere advisory committee. The member is also recommending that the directors of the board be chosen by the minister but from a list of officially registered special crops commodity groups.
There are several reasons why both these recommendations make good sense. Farmers will be paying for this insurance program without any contribution from government. Therefore it makes sense that they should call the shots. For example, they should decide who should act as the agent for the insurance program, for their insurance program.
The Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-food heard from many organizations representing special crops growers. In particular the Saskatchewan and Manitoba pulse growers associations both recommended a full-fledged board of directors rather than an advisory committee.
We believe this would improve the legislation and would improve its acceptance by farmers. These producer recommendations are embedded in the motions put forward by the member for Prince George—Peace River.
As a result the proposals recommend themselves. I urge government members and all other members of the House to support the motions. I congratulate the member for bringing them forward.